1977 The Songs of the Humpback Whale and Deep Voices
Dr Roger S. PayneOut of date order, perhaps, but whales have been singing in the oceans
far longer than we have been singing on land. The songs of humpbacks were an
unbelievable mind-opener, particularly the notion that they too have musical
fashions, changing year to year. Roger Payne started recording whales with hydrophones
in 1968, annus mirabilis. I used to play these albums to Gaia and Hania when
they were very young, at night, in the dark. Like being in deep space, with
alien intelligences nuzzling all around. Picking a single track would be virtually
impossible, though I love the second side of Songs, 'Three Whale Trip'.
And I also love the Deep Voices takes, including: 'Whales Charging a
Boat', 'Left Over Sea Running', 'Deep Voices', 'Blue Whales in Range', 'Surrounded
by Snoring' and 'Deep Breathing'. These animals were icons of environmentalism,
Payne the oracle through whom we could commune with them.

1842 Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves
Verdi/Nabucco

It's odd that more or less every time I like a piece of opera
I haven't heard before it turns out to be Verdi. And the politics reflected
in the music are moving, too. When Nabucco was first performed, there was
no Italy; it was a part of the Austrian Empire. Because the plot was about
an evil king, the government wanted to ban the opera. Instead it finally demanded
that there should be no encores. When the Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves
ended, the audience gave a standing ovation. Worse, in direct defiance of
the government's order, it insisted on an immediate encore.

1933 Flying Down to Rio
Fred Astaire

The first film to put Fred and Ginger (Rogers) together on the
dance floor. The combination of aircraft, exotic places and Fred and Ginger
was irresistible. I love the title song, but by far the best sequence is the
'Carioca' scene, with singing from Alice Gentle, Movita Castaneda and Etta
Moten.

1935 The Canoe Song
Paul Robeson

When I watched the film Sanders of the River (1935) on
TV in the early 1960s, Paul Robeson's voice really hooked me. It was probably
around the time that I was studying for 'O' level History, aged around 14.
I got a severe case of chickenpox and ended up in the sanatorium, where I
read Gone With The Wind. Largely as a result, with several questions
in the exam linking to the American Civil War, I ended up with an A - or whatever
the top score was in those days. The plight of the African Americans never
left me. Some of the sentiments in this song - lauding aspects of colonialism
- don't bear thinking about these days, but Robeson rose above it all.

1963 Surf City
Jan & Dean

The idea of "two girls for every boy" no doubt appealed
to my pubescent mind, but the surf culture was almost unbearably seductive.
Having grown up alongside Americans, the Marches (particularly their daughters,
Molly, Terry and Peggy) and Johnny Sanders, in Cyprus, all things American
had a strong appeal. I still recall first hearing Jan & Dean's Dead
Man's Curve when the Marches were later based for a couple of years in
London.

1964 Mr Tambourine Man
The Byrds

I also remember the first time I heard this track on the radio:
the jetstream harmonies made my hair stand up on end. Eventually saw The Byrds
in their Sweetheart of the Rodeo stage in 1968, at Middle Earth, Covent
Garden, and Roger McGuinn in 2001 at the Jazz Café, Camden Town. Few
debut singles in the history of rock'n'roll have had such an immediate and
overwhelming impact. The Byrds brought Dylan a wider audience and re-established
an American rock & roll presence in the face of the British Invasion.
The chiming sound of McGuinn's 12-string guitar was key: I have played 12-string
more or less ever since. Gene Clark, an early Byrds member, was a great songwriter
in his own right - I'll Feel A Whole Lot Better, The World Turns
All Around Her and Set You Free This Time are old favourites. And
I love most of what Chris Hillman has done since, with bands like The Flying
Burrito Brothers and The Desert Rose Band.

1966 Good Vibrations
The Beach Boys

At Bryanston, people were into the likes of The Who, so The
Beach Boys were considered a somewhat lower order of musical existence. But
Surfin' USA was the first LP I ever bought, in 1964. Having cut my
teeth on such music, Pet Sounds - now considered one of the greatest,
if not the greatest pop LPs of all time - was a real shock when I bought it
while at Bryanston. Not at all what I had expected when I had ordered the
album, though it soon grew on me. Of all Brian Wilson's work, Good Vibrations
remains my favourite, though it marked his zenith. Next came the tribulations
of Smile, after which the band had to rebuild itself over many years.
A later album, 20/20, was part of the soundtrack to my one and only
LSD trip, in 1969.

1967 White Rabbit
Jefferson Airplane

I bought Jefferson Airplane's Surrealistic Pillow in
late 1967 or early 1968. Loved Grace Slick's voice - and the album contained
two of my favourite tracks, Somebody to Love and White Rabbit.
"One pill makes you larger, and one pill makes you small, and the ones
that mother gives you don't do anything at all. Go ask Alice, when she's 10
feet tall ..". An appropriate sound track for the recreations and explorations
of the time.

1967 Waterloo Sunset
The Kinks

Ray Davies and The Kinks may have sown the seeds of Punk and
Heavy Metal with some of their early songs, but their idiosyncratic English
style of rock, crossed with music hall, was irresistible. Often thought of
this track when walking across Hungerford Bridge to and from work with TEST
in Covent Garden in the mid-1970s. Kicked off the chapter I wrote on the Thames
for The English Landscape in 2000 with a quote from Waterloo Sunset.

1968 It's Alright Ma, It's Only Witchcraft
Fairport Convention

Over the years, I have seen Fairport in concert more than any
other band, at Essex, in London (particularly Middle Earth) and at their annual
open-air gig at Cropredy. They pioneered folk/rock in the same way that The
Byrds did in the US, but gave it a very English twist. The lyrics of this
track bridge the gap between the UK and the US West Coast scene. Fairport
never made it into the mainstream, but made up for it by sheer longevity -
and by acting like a neutron star, seeding the musical universe with elements
vital to future life. In some ways, a bit like the implosion of the Earthlife
Foundation in 1986-87, which led to the formation of SustainAbility, the Living
Earth Foundation and other initiatives.

1968 Jumpin' Jack Flash
The Rolling Stones

If memory serves, and remember that
old saw about the Sixties, this track was playing on the coffee bar juke box
when I was introduced to Elaine by a mutual female friend, Frankie Crowe.
A No. 1 hit, unlike Street Fighting Man, which was hit by radio bans
in the US in a year of massive civil disorder there and in countries like
France and the UK. Have always wondered how The Stones got the almost-bagpipe-like
sound towards the end of the song. Later, we have got a huge amount of pleasure
from bassist Bill Wyman's various ventures, but particularly from the albums
he has done with The Rhythm Kings. This track ended the Stones gig we saw
in 2003: spine-tingling.

1968 Revolution
The Beatles

1968 was a watershed. I was 18, in my first year at university.
Had just met Elaine, in her final year. And what a year: January, Tet offensive,
Vietnam; April, Martin Luther King killed; May, the Paris barricades; our
university, Essex, erupted; June, Bobby Kennedy) who I had seen shortly before
on Kingham station) killed; August, Russian tanks crushed 'Prague Spring';
September, the police riot at the Democratic Convention, Chicago. Then Revolution.
Raucous, angry, but contrarian. While The Stones pretended to be ready to
fight it out in the streets, The Beatles dissented. The song was branded a
"betrayal" by the New Left, but for me the line of thought made
sense. And I liked the way The Beatles were experimenting with business. The
full, shambolic story of Apple Corps, their tax-dodge-cum-investment-plus-philanthropy
company, only emerged later.

1983 Back on the Chain Gang
The Pretenders

Interestingly, Chrissie Hynde was studying at Kent State University
when the National Guard opened fire in 1970 and four student protestors were
killed. But the reason we listened to this track - and Gaia, Hania and I danced
to it often - was simply that it is contagious. Gloriously jangling guitars.
"I found a picture of you ".

2001 Bye & Bye
Bob Dylan

He's been a leitmotif in my musical life, either directly or
through cover versions. But, having never seen the man in concert, I went
a couple of times in recent years with an American friend, Steve Warshal of
Greenpeace Business. He (Dylan) really is a noisy old man these days, but
the musicianship is remarkable. 2001's Bye & Bye has a delicious
lilt.

2002 Cold, Cold Heart
Norah Jones

When a Kiwi colleague, Nick Robinson, lent me a clutch of some
20 CDs, without covers, Norah Jones was among them - but didn't really catch
my ear - or eye. Then I saw her play on TV and everything changed. She looks
wonderful, and the Ravi Shankar genes show, but this is simply great music,
beautifully rendered. Among other things, it's the bass line, the tinkling
piano, the smoky, jazzy voice.

1867 An der schönen blauen Donau
Johann Strauss

A gloriously stirring - yet strangely comforting - piece.
And the track closes the cycle by linking back to the spatial dimensions of
the songs of humpback whales we started with (recordings of which accompanied
at least one NASA deep space mission). I first really connected with Strauss
and On the Beautiful Blue Danube during the space station sequence
in Stanley Kubrick's film 2001: A Space Odyssey. Out of this world.
But also an object lesson in how wildly over-optimistic we can be about the
future. Still, the Danube's waters flow out into the seas and oceans, where
whales swim and sing.